1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to methods of phalloplasty for girth enhancement. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method of phalloplasty for girth enhancement, using multiple slits implant or multiple pieces of an implant.
2. Description of the Related Art
In most surgery methods for penis enlargement, including girth enhancement and penis lengthening, a patient's penis is required to undergo a wide incision around the entire circumference area thereof or wide incision of the prepubic area thereof after being locally anesthetized. Conventionally, a synthetic material made from soft or liquid silicon or a biological tissue made from cartilage, fat, dermal fat or dermal tissue is used as a single implant having the same girth as the penis, so as to achieve penis enlargement.
Previously, and still often conducted these days, conventional phalloplasty has been widely performed with a silicon ring or silicon sheet because it is relatively inexpensive. However, silicon prostheses have not to be medicinally proven with regard to safety to the body. In addition, silicon grafts, in contrast to biological tissues, are accompanied by the sensation of foreign matter within the penile tissue. Further, complications of such artificial implants frequently occur. Nonetheless, phalloplasty for penis enlargement is even now widely performed with silicon because it is a relatively simple operation and the material cost is low.
Recently, autograft tissues, for example autologous dermal fat, or allograft tissue, for example human dermal tissue (Alloderm®), have been applied to phalloplasty for penis enlargement. Most phalloplasty methods require an autograft or allograft in the form of a single piece, or use it in such a manner as to encompass the entire area of the penis. Thus, a large amount of autografts or allografts are needed in order to perform the penis enlargement. In addition, when inflammation or necrosis occurs even at partial part of the implanted tissue, the entire implant must be removed because it is in the form of a single piece. On the whole, recovery from the transplant operation proceeds at a slow pace if it is large in size.
Conventional penis enlargement surgery, in which a patient's penis is widely incised around the entire area thereof, or the pubic area is incised, the wide incision takes a long period of time to be conducted. Furthermore, such wide incision leaves an extensive scar on the surface of the penis after the surgery, which is unsatisfactory to the patient, who wants a natural result and rapid convalescence.
In U.S. Published Patent Application No. 20060096603 a method for complex phalloplasty with minimal incision is taught, by which the penis immediately below the glans is incised to a length of 2-3 cm in a transverse direction. This method suffers from the disadvantage of requiring the removal of the entire penile prosthesis implanted in the penis when inflammation or necrosis occurs at only part of the transplantation site in the penis and necessitates a long period of time for convalescence.